President Trump Eliminates Illegal Obama Blacklisting Rule

On Monday afternoon, President Trump signed a resolution into law effectively eliminating the Obama administration’s illegal “blacklisting” rule (formally known as the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces final rule). Implementation of most of the rule’s onerous and duplicative reporting and disclosure requirements were temporarily blocked on Oct. 24 when a U.S. District Court judge ruled in favor of ABC’s lawsuit and granted a preliminary injunction.

“Associated Builders and Contractors has opposed the illegal blacklisting rule from the day it was first proposed as an executive order by President Obama,” said ABC Vice President of Regulatory, Labor and State Affairs Ben Brubeck. “The rule violated the due process rights of contractors by forcing them to report mere allegations of misconduct—which are often frivolous and filed with nefarious intentions by special interest groups—the same as fully adjudicated violations.

“Additionally, the cumbersome and duplicative requirements of the rule, most of which were temporarily blocked when a U.S. District Court judge ruled in favor of ABC’s lawsuit and granted a preliminary injunction, would have driven up the cost of public construction projects to taxpayers and served as a costly barrier to entry for small businesses. ABC is committed to working with the Trump administration and Congress to improve the government’s current procurement system to ensure that taxpayer-funded projects are awarded through a transparent and fair bid process that encourages competition from all qualified contractors.”

The CRA measure was introduced by House Committee on Education and the Workforce Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), House Small Business Committee Chair Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) and House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chair Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah).